Automotive and business brief

Snapshot

• Kromberg & Schubert halts its Lutsk (Ukraine) harness plant after a 16 Oct drone strike — the second K&S Ukrainian site down after Zhytomyr
• Kromberg & Schubert adds a fourth Bitola (North Macedonia) project: 2,000 jobs over four years and more than 3,000 harnesses a day for a new Audi model
• VW Puebla workers reject the 13.16% / 24-month deal; a strike can start from 22 Oct, 11:00 Mexico time (19:00 CEST)

Top Developments

1. Kromberg & Schubert halts its Lutsk (Ukraine) harness plant after a 16 Oct drone strike — the second K&S Ukrainian site down after Zhytomyr

   Kromberg & Schubert’s Ukrainian unit said on 17 Oct that operations at its Lutsk plant (Volyn oblast) are suspended after Russian drones hit the site on 16 Oct; staff were told a return-to-work date will follow once the situation has been assessed. The plant makes wiring systems for Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Škoda and, per the company’s website, employs about 5,500 people (about 4,300 in production).…

   AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

   Sources: Kyiv Independent (18 Oct) · Ukrainska Pravda (17 Oct) · Interfax-Ukraine (17 Oct, UA)

2. Kromberg & Schubert adds a fourth Bitola (North Macedonia) project: 2,000 jobs over four years and more than 3,000 harnesses a day for a new Audi model

   North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced on 15 Oct that K&S will launch a new investment at its plant in the Žabeni industrial zone near Bitola. The plant will build wiring systems for a new (unnamed) Audi model, with planned output above 3,000 harnesses per day, plus digitalised production and AI applications. K&S employs about 5,300 people in Bitola and just over 1,700 in Skopje, and the project would take its workforce in the country to about 10,000.…

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   Sources: Government of North Macedonia (15 Oct, MK) · MIA (15 Oct) · Republika (15 Oct)

3. VW Puebla workers reject the 13.16% / 24-month deal; a strike can start from 22 Oct, 11:00 Mexico time (19:00 CEST)

   In the 15 Oct membership vote, 3,135 SITIAVW members voted against and 2,452 in favour (21 void; 5,608 of 6,211 eligible voted). VW de México said it respects the result but called the package ‘the maximum viable effort’. It warned it will not avoid a strike if the cost would put at risk the future of a plant that is almost 70 years old. Activity continues normally until the strike notice expires at 11:00 on 22 Oct.…

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   Sources: VW de México statement (15 Oct, PDF) · El Universal Puebla (picket rota) · Diario Puntual (16 Oct)

4. Ford Almussafes idles vehicle production from 19 Oct to 11 Nov; 15 Dec is effectively the last build day of 2026

   After the 15 Oct ERTE-RED follow-up committee, Ford Spain set its Q4 stop calendar. The vehicle plant stops 19–30 Oct and 2–11 Nov (about 3.5 weeks), plus 16–18 and 21 Dec. The engine plant stops on 19 and 26 Oct, 9–11 Nov and 21 Dec, giving six full-site stoppages. With the Christmas break starting 24 Dec, 15 Dec is in practice the last production day of the year. The RED mechanism covers the 4,123 staff on rotation at 90% pay and ends 31 Dec.…

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   Sources: Europa Press (15 Oct) · La Razón (15 Oct)

5. Weber Magdeburg (cylinder heads, transmission housings) files for insolvency after Porsche withdrew all orders — about 120 jobs

   Weber Magdeburg GmbH, part of the Albert Weber group (Markdorf), filed at Konstanz district court. On 14 Oct the court appointed Jan Markus Plathner as preliminary administrator; he is examining pre-financing of insolvency pay for about 120 staff and options to stabilise the business. The plant makes cylinder heads and transmission/housing parts. In July, IG Metall had said main customer Porsche would withdraw all orders by 30 Sep.…

   AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

   Sources: MDR (16 Oct) · Mitteldeutsche Zeitung / dpa (16 Oct) · Volksstimme (16 Oct)

6. Toyota Motor Europe lobbies for ‘Made with Europe’: count the UK, Türkiye and Japan, phase content in to 70%, and no hard rules before 2030

   In a 16 Oct position paper on the Industrial Accelerator Act and the automotive package, TME asks EU legislators for four main things. (1) Recognise a small set of trusted free-trade and customs-union partners with full reciprocity, naming the UK, Türkiye and Japan. (2) Phase European-content requirements up to 70% after three years, measured on ex-works value and counting engineering, R&D and final assembly. (3) Set the overall vehicle-sales threshold at 70% instead of the proposed 85%.…

   AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

   Sources: Toyota Motor Europe newsroom (16 Oct) · Just Auto (16 Oct)

7. VW brand chief Schäfer: VW is ‘getting ready’ to import one or more China-developed EVs into Europe as selected add-ons

   In an Autocar interview at the Paris show (published 17 Oct), VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said VW has radically cut material and engineering cost in its ‘in China for China’ models. Exports to the global south (e.g. These would be selected imports to test demand, not replacements for existing models. Autocar names the Xpeng-co-developed ID. Unyx 09 saloon and the ID. Aura T6 SUV as candidates. No model, date or volume has been confirmed. VW had flatly denied China-to-Europe import reports in early May.

   AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

   Sources: Autocar (17 Oct) · auto motor und sport (4 May, earlier denial)

8. China cuts the export VAT rebate for new-energy vehicles from 13% to 9% from 1 April 2027

   On 12 Oct the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration announced a 4-point cut, from 1 Apr 2027, in the export VAT rebate for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, plus e-buses and electric tractor units. The rate is set by the export date on the customs declaration. China Daily quotes analysts saying the cut aims to curb low-price export competition and favour firms with overseas production.…

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   Sources: China Daily via People’s Daily (14 Oct) · CnEVPost (12 Oct)

9. Mercedes-Benz follows Volvo: an expanded NVIDIA deal puts Hyperion compute/sensors, Alpamayo driving software and the Halos safety stack under MB.OS, aiming at future Level 4

   Under the deal announced on 16 Oct, MB.OS will work with NVIDIA Hyperion in-vehicle computing and sensor architecture and with the Alpamayo Stack, a full-stack AI driving software for urban point-to-point assistance, active safety and automated parking. NVIDIA Halos adds a parallel safety stack for redundancy and guardrails. Targets include advanced ADAS and future SAE Level 4 applications, including ‘robolimousines’. Mercedes also uses NVIDIA for engineering simulation and in MO360, its digital production system.…

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   Sources: Mercedes-Benz Group (16 Oct) · NVIDIA Newsroom (16 Oct)

10. Toyota: all ~50 models to become software-defined vehicles on its Arene platform by 2030 — about 10 million vehicles a year

    Toyota officials said on 16 Oct that Arene, Toyota’s in-vehicle software platform first used in the RAV4 launched in 2025, will be rolled out across its roughly 50 models by 2030. That covers about 10 million new vehicles a year, with revenue from paid software updates after delivery, and Toyota will later offer Arene to partner automakers (Jiji). Reuters, citing Nikkei, reported the same 10-million-vehicle target. In Japan, Honda and Nissan have agreed to develop in-vehicle software jointly.

    AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

    Sources: Jiji Press (16 Oct) · Reuters via TradingView (Nikkei)

11. BMW brings inverter power modules in-house in Steyr (>€100m, SOP summer 2029) and starts Gen6 high-voltage battery series production in Shenyang

    BMW will invest more than €100m in its Steyr (Austria) plant to make inverter power modules in-house from summer 2029, including upstream supply-chain steps. A new cleanroom line will join ten individual parts using large-area soldering and ultrasonic welding, a first for the group. BMW says this lets it source semiconductors flexibly worldwide and reduces dependence in a geopolitically sensitive area.…

    AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

    Sources: e-cars.hu · electrive.net (14 Oct, DE) · e-cars.hu (14 Oct, HU) · BMW Group PressClub (15 Oct)

12. US supplier map: Korean harness maker Yura sets up a Georgia hub for Hyundai’s Metaplant; Ford supplier J.G. Kern to close after work moves partly to India

    Yura Corporation said on 13 Oct it will invest $5m and create 55 jobs in Bloomingdale (Chatham County, Georgia), its first US Southeast site. It will start as a distribution centre, with manufacturing to be added later, supplying wiring harnesses and electronic modules to Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. In Michigan, Sterling Heights powertrain-parts maker J.G. Kern Enterprises filed a WARN notice for a permanent closure affecting all 156 workers after Ford pulled its business.…

    AI-generated summary · not individually reviewed · check the linked sources

    Sources: SEDA / Yura (13 Oct) · Macomb Daily / Oakland Press (16 Oct) · Ford Authority (16 Oct, Ford statement)

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Market data: TradingView, Yahoo Finance (delayed). Not investment advice.